The commercial CFD code ANSYS Fluent is used for the three-dimensional estimation of wave loads and the dynamic response of a floating single point wave energy converter of the SINN Power wave power plant due to non-breaking and unidirectional waves in coastal waters. The VoF method is used to model the free surface and wave theories to set up the boundary conditions at the inlet for regular waves. The wave induced vertical motions of the floating module are computed by a sixDoF solver. Preliminary 2D and 3D studies to set up boundary conditions, mesh densities and solver settings were performed. The numerical results were compared to analytical solutions in form of water surface elevations and wave kinematics which showed good agreement.
The paper presents the dynamic response of the floating module for different load cases in terms of non-breaking waves. The resulting horizontal and vertical forces at the floating module will be presented and explained by the flow dynamics. Time and space depending velocities and pressure distributions including details on vortex separation will be given, which reveal valuable insights on the contribution of inertia and drag forces leading to the dynamic structural response of the floating devices.
